Mr.Nirmal Singh IAS (Retd.)

Mr.Nirmal Singh IAS (Retd.)

Former Secretary to Govt of India

Ex Chairman, Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction,

Ministry of Finance,

Government of India

A 81,

Sector 46,

Noida - 201303

Uttarpradesh

E

Tel: ( +91 120) 2571169

M : 9818115139

Till recently I was a member of Indian Administrative Services,1970 batch IAS of Tamilnadu Cadre and have retired as Secretary to Government of India recently with nearly four decades of varied experience in administration. Has indepth practical experience of more than two decades in policy formulating, monitoring and implementation of matters relating to Industrial Development and energy sector.

Industrial Development/Infrastructure sector:

Ø  As development commissioner for Cement Industry have experience in Planning, formulating and implementing policy for the development of Cement Industry in the country.Demand assessment and analysis was one of the critical role of Development Commissioner, to ensure smooth supply of the critical input for all sector. Financial appraisal of the cement companies was also one of the important role as retention price was fixed based on this appraisal. Coordinating for provision of infra-structural facilities for this sector and coordinating the movement of wagons, coal and other critical materials with the other concerned Ministries of Government of India and the States.During my tenure, the cement Industry which was regulated under the Cement Control was deregulated.

Ø  Chairman of the Group to examine policies for modernization of Cement Industry. Based on the report of this Group, Government has approved the policy for modernization of the Cement Industry.Was actively involved in the exercise for abolition of Retention Price Mechanism in Cement Industry.I was also Director in the Board of Cement Corporation of India.

Ø  Was Chairman of Tamilnadu Electricity Board.As CEO, responsible for formulating and implementing policies for generation and distribution etc of Electricity.Tamilnadu Electricity Board is one of the largest electricity board and considered to be well managed.A number of initiatives taken to reduce transmission losses and economy measures, which yielded more than 20 crore savings.Similarly, the problem of casual workers was solved smoothly which was presiding for number of years.

Ø  As Joint Development Commissioner of SSI had experience at National level in formulating policies for development of small-scale industry in the country. Supervising all the Small Industry service Institutes and other Workshops in the country. Co-ordinating with the State Government for the development of Small Scale Industry Sector.Also formulated policy for marketing products of these sectors in the country and abroad.One of the important role was to assess the level of sickness in this sector, to analyse the reason of this and to suggest remedial steps of revival.

Ø  Has also the experience of being MD of a Cement Company and MD of Federation of Milk Unions having more than 40 lakhs member and equal member of consumer.

Ø  Has indepth experience of the working of FIPB, being one of the regular member of FIPB and thus well informed about the investment policies of the Government.

Hydrocarbon Areas:

Ø  As Joint Secretary from 1994-99 in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Govt Of India, has experience in planning and formulating policies for investment regarding refineries, pipelines and import/export of crude oil and petroleum products for the country. One of the important area was formulating and determining/fixing prices of various petroleum products for consumers and prices of crude oil for producers for petroleum products. An other critical area dealt for all users was demand and supply projection for short term and long term.To analyze the impact of custom and excise duties on consumers of petroleum products and producers. Ministry of Finance uses this data for appropriate Budgetary exercise.

Ø  Government of India had appointed (R) Group for restructuring the Oil Sector. I was one of the members for this Group. ‘R’ Group recommendation was accepted by the Government as blue print for dismantling of APM.

Ø  Based on the recommendation of this Group, Government had appointed an Expert Technical Group under Chairmanship of myself, consisting of representatives of Ministry of Finance,Planning Commission and other experts from Oil Industry to suggest alternative mode of dismantling of Administrated Pricing Mechanism and its impact on other sectors of the economy. The main objective was to achieve Rationalisation of prices of various petroleum products. This Group was also to study custom and excise duty structure of the petroleum products. This group had submitted three reports, based on the recommendation of this group, the Govt had decided to dismantle the Administrated Pricing Mechanism in phases. Based on this report, Ministry of Finance adjusted the custom duty and excise duty suitably. Prepared the blue print for dismantling of APM.

Ø  I also held the post of Chairman of Engineers India Ltd concurrently for more than 2 years.EIL is a premier organization dealing with projects consultancy, project management and implementing agency for major projects predominantly for the oil sector.Thus had gained experience in preparing feasibility studies of various type of projects and how to determine the financial viability of the projects.

Ø  I was also nominated as Director in the Board of IOC,HPCL and BPCL , major Oil companies for about 5 years and thus have indepth knowledge for analyzing the various financial statements of companies.

Ø  Later in 2000-2002,had the experience of doing research work in TERI as Senior Fellow. During this period provided consultancy to a number of oil companies like IOC, HPCL,BPCL and ONGC etc by taking up analytical studies of investment, pricing, tariff Mechanism etc of petroleum products. Focus of these studies was to determine the pricing structure in the Deregulated market ,the impact of Govt policies ie custom duty and excise duty at the consumer level and its impact on the financial condition of the company.

Urban Development:

Ø  Has experience as Chief Executive of Metropolitan Authority for formulating policy for urban development and slum improvement programmes.Also was responsible for actually implementing the policy for setting up new towns and other urban development projects.

Ø  Human Rights- Was Secretary General of National Human Rights Commission for a period of about 2 years.Thus have considerable exposure of protection of Human rights particularly with regard to industrial projects and international policies regarding this aspect as was dealing with various international institution relating to this subject.

Training in Foreign Countries / Seminar on Small Scale Industries sponsored by Asian Productivity Organisation,Productivity Council Japan/Korea (1985)
Management Urban Growth Centres,Cranefield School of Management,Bedford, U.K (1980)

Expertise:

1. Industry ( Industrial Development)

2. Energy Sector

3. Infrastructure Development

4. Public Affairs Development

5. Expertise in administered pricing mechanism of cement and petroleum sector

6. Restructuring of sick companies

Special Achievements:

1. Chairman of the Group of Experts set up by the Government for furnishing recommendation for Modernization of the Cement Industry.

1. Chairman of the Technical Group consisting of Experts of the Oil sector/Ministries set up by the Government to examine the various aspects of pricing of crude and petroleum products.

1. Chairman of the sub group on Petroleum and Natural Gas Sector.

1. Member of FIPB, Ministry of Finance

1. Has considerable experience in International trade. Was dealing with import and export policies for more than 10 years in the Ministry of Industry and Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas.

1. Has more than 15 years experinec in dealing with various International Organization/countries for various commercial agreements and treaties on behalf of Government.

1. Has experience in formulating policy and standards and their implementation for the protection of consumers. Has implemented “ISI” mark scheme, a trademark of quality.

1. As Senior consultant in National Institute of Public Finance, prepared a report on “Market related prices for Oil Sector” for 13th Finance Commission.

1. Has worked as Appellate Authority under Essential commodities Act/Immigration Act. Thus, has experience in Quasi- Judicial role.

Brief Details of Important Assignments:

POSITIONS HELD DURING THE PRECEDING YEARS

Designation & Place of Posting: Member and Chairman , BIFR
Organisation : Ministry of Finance
Nature of Duties: Responsible for Revival of sick companies and preparing financial packages for such companies. It was a Quasi Judicial role.
From: 2008 to 2013
Designation & Place of Posting: Secretary, Delhi
Organisation : Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs
Nature of Duties: All matters relating to overseas Indians. Formulating policies for Overseas Indians for promotion of investment in India in all sectors. Member of FIPB and to interact with Investment Commission on all such matters. Negotiating bilateral MOUs/treaties with countries for social security and migration of workers and overseas Indians. Appellant Authority under Immigration Act on behalf of Central Government.
From: 2006 to 2008
Designation & Place of Posting :Secretary-General in the rank of Secretary to Govt,(Chief Executive of the Organisation),Delhi
Organisation :National Human Rights Commission (An Autonomous Body of Govt of India)
Nature of Duties: As Chief Executive responsible for Formulating and implementing projects of the organization for protection of human rights. Interacting with International Organization, dealing with their matters and dealing with international treaties regarding these matters.
From: 2004 to 2006
Designation & Place of Posting: Director General, in the rank of Additional Secy to Govt (Chief Executive of the Organisation)
Organisation: Bureau Of Indian Standards (An Autonomous body of Govt of India)
Nature of Duties: As Chief Executive, responsible for formulation standards for various products, monitoring quality standards of the products and protection of consumer interests. Dealing with international organization like ISO in these matters and negotiating bilateral agreements for the protection of Indian Industries interests regarding these matters. Was elected member of the Executive Committee of ISO.
From : 2002 to 2004
Designation & Place of Posting: Senior Fellow , Delhi
Organisation: Tata Energy Research Institute( NGO)
Nature of Duties: Advising various Oil PSUs on matters relating to fixing of prices of various petroleum products and pricing policy for upstream sector.Organising seminars/workshops for all these matters.
From :03.00 to 08.02
Designation & Place of Posting: Special Commissioner and Commissioner , Chennai
Organisation : Civil Supplies, Government of Tamilnadu
Nature of Duties: All matters relating to civil supply and public distribution system in the states. Also responsible for organizing procurement of levy paddy within the states. Monitoring the functioning of all Collectors regarding matter relating to Civil supply and procurement. Responsible for protecting the interests of consumers and thus co-coordinating with various institutions involved in this. Dealing with matters relating to consumer courts. Implementing the essential commodity Act and various Central Order under it and to function as Appellant authority against the order of various sub ordinate offices.
From: 1999 to 2000
Designation & Place of Posting: Chairman (Chief Executive), Chennai
Organisation: Tamilnadu Electricity Board, (A PSU of State Govt)
Nature of Duties: As Chief Executive, responsible for formulating policy and implementation for generation of electricity and supervising the distribution in the entire state. To work suitable tariff rate for ensuring profitability of the organization. Negotiating various agreements with foreign companies for co-operation investment and technical knowledge etc.
From : 03.99 to 07.99
Designation & Place of Posting: Joint Secretary,(Concurrently Chairman & MD of Engineers India Ltd)(94-96)
Organisation: Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
Nature of Duties: As Chief Executive of Engineers India Ltd, responsible for formulating and monitoring consultancy projects of the organization. Also responsible for taking up projects abroad and entering into agreement with the concerned organization for execution of the project.
As JS responsible for entire International trade of Crude and petroleum products of the country and for formulating policies for investment in Refinery projects.
Import and export of crude and petroleum products for the entire country, fixing the price of petroleum products and crude oil.Also responsible for negotiating with other countries the long and short term agreement for import of crude and petroleum products and agreements relating to transfer of technology. Was a member of the “R” Group, a strategic group consisting of experts set by the Government to furnish recommendation for restructuring of the oil sector. Based on the recommendation of this group, major reforms were initiated in the oil sector.
Chairman of the Technical group, consisting of experts of Ministry, oils sector, planning commission etc set up by the Government to examine various aspects of the pricing of crude and petroleum products and to suggest alternative scenarios for duties and taxes. Based on the recommendation of this group, the government had reviewed the duty structure of the oil sector.
From : 1994 to 1999
Designation & Place of Posting: Managing Director,
Organisation: Tamilnadu Cement Co Ltd, Chennai, Ministry of Industry,Govt of Tamilnadu
Nature of Duties:As Managing Director is to ensure that the company earns profit and thus also responsible for formulating policies for mining/production of the limestones,clinker cement and marketing of cement and asbestos sheets, pipes and stoneware pipes. Also responsible for planning and procurement of raw materials, coordinating with centre and state agencies for ensuring supply of coal and wagon etc.
From: 1993 to 1994
Designation & Place of Posting: Commissioner of Milk Production and Dairy Development and MD, Tamilnadu Co-op Milk Producer’s federation Ltd
Organization: Government of Tamilnadu
Nature of Duties: As commissioner responsible for planning, formulating and implementing policies for development of dairies sector in the state. Also Head of the Department of Dairy Development. As functional Registrar of the CO-OP societies responsible for statutory inspection of Milk Co-op and Union in the States having member of about 50 lakhs milk producers. Also responsible for protection of the consumer interests. As Managing Director of the Federation responsible for formulating and planning policies for the development of village level co-operative dairy societies,Distt level unions and implementing programme for their corporation.
Also responsible for managing the dairies of the federation and of Milk unions for procurement of milk for members and marketing to consumers, more than one crore production of milk products and other dairy products and marketing of it throughout the country.
From :1990-1993
Designation & Place of Posting: Development Commissioner for Cement Industry,Govt of India
Organization: Ministry of Industry, Government of India
Nature of Duties: Responsible for planning, formulating and implementing policies for the development of Cement Industry in the country. Co-coordinating for the provision of infrastructural facilities for this sector and co-coordinating the movement of wagons of cement and coal and other critical input with the other ministries.
Also responsible for the protection of consumers interests i.e. cement was essential item under the Essential Commodity Act.
Chairman of the Group constituted by the Govt for furnishing recommendation for modernization. Based on the recommendation of this Group, Government announced policy for modernization in the Cement Industry.
Also negotiated the loan for the development of Cement Industry with World Bank.
From :1988-1990
Designation & Place of Posting: Joint Development Commissioner for Small Scale Industry
Organisation: Ministry of Industry,Govt of India
Nature of Duties: Responsible for formulating policies for Development of Small Scale Industry. Supervising and monitoring all the small scale industries and workshops in the country.Co-ordinating with the Sate government for development of small scale sector. Formulating policies for marketing of these sectors in the country and abroad. Organizing exhibition abroad for promotion of this sector.
Also responsible for negotiating with the foreign countries the agreement relating the transfer of technology in this sector for various Tool Rooms etc which was set up during that period. Also led a delegation of locks manufacturers to study the latest technology for standardization of the Industry. Based on the recommendation of this group, major policy changes were introduced.
From :1984-1988
Designation & Place of Posting: Chief Executive Officer, Madras Metropolitan Development Authority
Organisation: Government of Tamilnadu
Nature of Duties: As CEO responsible for planning and implementing policies for development of new towns and decongesting the city by shifting the major wholesale markets. Plans were made and implemented for setting up two new towns and shifting the wholesale (vegetable and steel) markets from the centre of the city to the outskirt. Also implemented the shifting of the main bus terminal.
Responsible for planning and implementing policies for improving the condition of the slum in the city in collaboration with World Bank etc
From :1978-1981
Designation & Place of Posting: Deputy Secretary to Government
Organisation: Home Department, Government of Tamilnadu
Nature of Duties: Responsible for supervising and monitoring the function of the prisons in the state. Also responsible for initiating a suitable policy for reform in the prison.
Also responsible for monitoring the implementation of prohibition and matter relating to excise job also involved dealing with all matters relating to the courts in the state.
From :1977-1978

Quasi Judicial Role:-